Sport

Top seed Saina Nehwal came out with a stupendous performance to save two match points and then defeat reigning World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain to retain the women's singles title at the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton Championships in Lucknow on Sunday.

Indian challenger CS Santosh was placed 52 overall in the 37th Dakar after the end of Day 5 on Thursday. The day belonged to defending champion Marc Coma who seems to finally be shrugging off the cobwebs. He clocked 4:38:16 to seal the stage.

Ace badminton player Saina Nehwal's public outburst was enough to move the sports ministry to recommend her name for the third-highest civilian award as a special case, three-and-a-half-months after the deadline for submitting nominations.

Taking the advice of Dakar Rally veterans to heart, India's cross-country motorcycle racer CS Santosh got off to a cautious start on the first day, ending up in 86th position and more than 22 minutes off leader Sam Sunderland.

Young Indian driver Jehan Daruvala will embark on his single-seater racing career with the reputed Fortec Motorsport squad in the Formula Renault 2.0 championship after three successful seasons in karting.

Indicating that he is still hungry for success, five-time chess world champion Viswanathan Anand on Friday said he is not quitting the game anytime soon and is preparing to play more tournaments in the coming year after a decent performance in 2014.

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps was given a one-year suspended sentence and 18 months probation after his arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding, a judge said on Friday.

Saina Nehwal topped her group to march into the women's singles semi-finals while Kidambi Srikanth reached the last-four stage despite losing his last men's singles round robin match at the BWF World Super Series Finals in Dubai on Friday.

Five-time chess world champion Viswanathan Anand won his maiden London Classic title after defeating British Grandmaster Michael Adams in the fifth and final round. The victory confirms Anand's presence in elite chess for some time.

The International Hockey Federation handed on Sunday a one-game ban to two Pakistan players and reprimanded another for their obscene behaviour towards the crowd and media after winning the Champions Trophy semi-final against India.

China's 14-year-old cue sport sensation Yan Bingtao became the youngest player to pocket the IBSF World Snooker title after edging past Pakistan's Muhammad Sajjad 8-7 in a thrilling final in Bengaluru on Saturday.